Interim head coach Andy Last has expressed his pride after his first victory on home soil as the Black & Whites ran out dominant 48-6 winners over Castleford on their return to the KCOM Stadium yesterday.
The Black & Whites bagged eight tries in arguably their best performance of the Betfred Super League season so far as they returned to their home stadium for the first time in over seven months.
Hull dominated proceedings throughout and earned their biggest home victory since last season’s Good Friday Hull Derby.
Speaking after the game in his post-match interview, brought to you in association with Jacuzzi®, Last said: “I spoke to the players about the importance of our home form, as well as it being an important game for me on a personal level.
“Regardless of however long my time may last in this position, this was my first game as interim head coach at home at the KCOM Stadium, and to be able to say we won convincingly makes me very proud.
“It was our best performance post-restart. Defensively we were strong last week against Huddersfield, and we backed it up today against a side who attack really well. In the build-up, I spoke about our aggression, because we knew that Castleford would bring some aggression, but we matched them all day long.
“Our line-speed, contact, and talk was all good, and it was like it’s meant to be when you’re playing at home – this is our house and you aren’t going to have it easy here.
He added: “The only thing that I’m a little bit disappointed with is that I thought our effort deserve the zero on the opposition score-line.”
“We talked about playing with a little bit of shape early doors to open them up – we knew they’d have energy and enthusiasm. But by doing that, it allowed us to play through them as they began to worry about then shift play. The tempo got us down the middle from the likes of Chirs Satae and Josh Bowden meant that they couldn’t cope with that ruck speed, and on the back of that you can get to the edges quickly and use our creativity.
“Confidence is a funny thing. You don’t know where it goes or where it comes from. If you keep working hard and being honest in how you apply yourself, you get your rewards. And we’re getting them. Today was a really big ask of the squad for the fitness and energy side of things, but to do what we did was magnificent.”
Looking ahead to the final four games of the season, Last says his side have set the tempo with today’s victory.
“We’ve set the tone going into the final four games of the season now. The boys are getting the rewards for their standards being high.
“Little things from a cultural point of view; Mahe Fonua, one of our senior players, was our ball boy today as he was struggling with a little bit of a calf problem, but he was there all game long helping the staff on the side-lines, and giving the boys big raps all the way through. Little things like that are vitally important for what we want to be about, and I’m really proud of that.
“We have a tough trip to France against a Catalans team this Thursday who are big and powerful, they’ve had a bit of time to prepare for that but we look match hardened now and we’re ready for that battle.”
STORY SPONSOR
